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Fear

This Jesus character in the Bible was one hard-working dude. With non-stop miracle-making, parable telling (and explaining), interviews with the press and recruitment of new fans, Jesus worked day and night doing everything any celebrity would do short of opening a Twitter account. So, it’s no wonder that he was exhausted! I mean, Jesus had to sleep too and when he slept, he must have slept hard. Like, dead to the world hard. In this story, however, it is debatable whether Jesus was actually exhausted or if he was just stoned. Unfortunately, we’re unable to complete an autopsy and do a drug test due to the fact that there is no physical evidence of Jesus ever existing at all. But, these are minor details and I digress.

(Moses thought god burned his weed when in reality god used fake flames (you know, like the ones used in The Hunger Games) to make Moses think it was unusable so he could save it for his son’s future consumption. I mean, it was some good stuff — the best. And who deserves the best more than the son of god? That’s right — no one.)

Here’s the story:

“On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!'” Mark 4:35-41

So, basically Jesus is asleep (or passed out) on a boat that is being whipped around so much by the wind and the waves that water is actually overflowing into the boat. It is overflowing into the boat so much so that the others that are on it are afraid for their lives and believed death to be an imminent threat. So what do they do? They wake Jesus up, of course! After all, how could he just let them all die? So, Jesus wakes up and tells the wind and the sea to cool it, and it does (as a side note, I wonder what the other fishermen in that sea must have been thinking when the storm instantly stopped like that…).

Either way, instead of Jesus turning around and saying, “Woah, sorry guys, that got way out of hand. You see, with all this life-saving I have been doing lately, I am just completely wiped. My bad.” he says, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”. This obviously does nothing to calm their fears (they are still fearing “exceedingly” at this point) and instead puts them in awe of him.

And, I get it — they just watched a man completely and instantly stop a raging storm. That’s impressive. BUT, if they hadn’t awoken him, there is a very good chance that they would have all been dead at the bottom of the sea while Jesus simply stood up and walked his way back to shore.

Is that what is happening these days? Is the “savior” so tired from all the stuff he did on Earth 2000 years ago that he is just passed out somewhere while all of these natural disasters kill people? And how do we wake him up so he can make it stop? What should Oklahoma have done? Or New Jersey and New York? What about New Orleans? Or Japan?

Jesus, if you exist, this had better be the best nap you have ever had.

A man is shunned for being in one single, honest relationship his entire life with another man…

A child losing his mother to a simple procedure gone wrong at the hands of a drunk surgeon…

A Jew, taken away from his home and worked until he was a pile of ashes…

A woman being beaten by her loving husband with no moral grounds for divorce…

A man whipped until there is no more skin on his back just because of the color of his skin…

A child starving to death with its family while their government grows rich…

An elderly woman dying of a perfectly treatable ailment simply because she cannot afford the medication…

A tornado rips someone’s life apart, a hurricane blows it away and an earthquake eats it up never to be seen again…

These things happen everyday and I have a very hard time understanding how any rational human being could praise a god in this world. If there is a god and s/he/it allows these things to happen, how can one blindly give their heart to it? Are we that desperate? That needy? That scared and self-conscious? Why do we teach our children that life on this earth is nothing, that real life comes after death when you step through those pearly gates? Why can’t life on earth be rewarding and full-filling? If we teach our children instead that this is the only life we have and to make it through we must treat others with dignity and respect, would they make different decisions? The world would be a better place if people weren’t driven by fear but instead by compassion.We must take responsibility for the good and the terrible things we do as a human race and we must always strive to make ourselves better people.

I choose to live for today and for tomorrow. I choose to be a good person because I believe it is the right thing to do, not because some anonymous guy wrote some ancient book and told me to, or else! I have faith in humanity, not some ghost in the sky. To me, this all just seems so obvious. Don’t allow yourself to be brainwashed. Think for yourself and determine your own conclusions. Be driven by the heart and mind, not by blind faith and fear.

Common Sense starts here. Go on...

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"I'll be honest about it. It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. ... But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."

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On The Turning Away

On the turning away
from the pale and downtrodden.
And the words they say
which we won't understand,
"Don't accept that what's happening
is just a case of others' suffering
or you'll find that you're joining in
the turning away."
It's a sin that somehow
light is changing to shadow
and casting it's shroud
over all we have known.
Unaware how the ranks have grown,
driven on by a heart of stone.
We could find that we're all alone
in the dream of the proud.
On the wings of the night
as the daytime is stirring.
Where the speechless unite
in a silent accord.
Using words you will find are strange
and mesmerised as they light the flame.
Feel the new wind of change
on the wings of the night.
No more turning away
from the weak and the weary.
No more turning away
from the coldness inside.
Just a world that we all must share.
It's not enough just to stand and stare.
Is it only a dream that there'll be
no more turning away?